In the second panel of the International Festival Forum 2019, Mojo's Kim Bloem led a discussion on the often thorny politics around festival billing.
"The discussion about festival billing is becoming more and more unreasonable. Today we'd like to start a healthy and productive discussion."
That's how panel chair Kim Bloem, of the Netherlands' Mojo Concerts, opened the second session of IFF 2019, which dealt with the thorny subject of the ordering of festival bills. Joining Bloem was Kazia Davy of Echo Location Talent (UK), Ian Evans of IME Music (UK), Thomas Zsifkovits of Barracuda Music (Austria), and Julia Gudzent of Melt! Booking (Germany).
Despite Bloem's assertion that it's everyone's "mutual interest" to stop wasting time discussing the minutiae of festival posters, Zsifkovits said: "Everyone has their own interest. I wouldn't say there is mutual interest. Agents want to get their artists as high as possible, and the promoter wants to highlight the people who are going to sell tickets."
Contrary to popular opinion, said Gudzent, when it comes to festival slots, later isn't always better. "I had a really good agent calling me for Melt! Festival this year asking if a band could play earlier so they'd have less competition, and would be able to play against lesser-known acts," she said. "So the latest slot isn't always the best slot."
Nor does a band's slot have to necessarily correspond with their position onf a poster, suggested Davy. "As an agent, you don't want your artist clashing with the headliner on main stage, even if they're headlining in a tent," she explained. "But you still might want them on poster as a headliner."
"We're all in the same boat: we want everyone to be happy," said Evans, who has booked festivals including Y Not, Truck, Victorious and Tramlines.
Posted on: 26/09/2019Categories: News from IQ Magazine
